The secret to selling your home, assuming it’s correctly and aggressively priced, is creating a positive emotion in prospective buyers. You want buyers to feel excited about the possibility of living in your house.
If you’ve ever visited a model home you’ll understand this emotion (most builders have a model home you can tour on any given day and are generally a good example of suitable home staging in your area.) Visualize the spaciousness and inviting ambiance of a model home, and try to recreate this feeling in your own home. This doesn’t mean going out and buying expensive furniture and accessories. It does mean de-cluttering. Save any decor items like candles, throws, artwork, new hand towels and kitchen towels etc. for your stager to use. We don’t want to sterilize the house, but do want to de-personalize.
Sellers sometimes have a knee-jerk reaction to being asked to remove their collections, religious and sport icons, and family photographs. Don’t take this request personally. Your realtor is certainly not judging your taste, merely trying to make sure your house appeals to as many buyers as possible.
Staging your home to sell quickly and for top dollar
From the first moment buyers pull into your driveway, they are evaluating whether they could live in your house. Trim and edge the lawn, power wash the front and back patio, and consider having your roof power washed.
Place pots of brightly colored flowers at your entrance. Borrow or purchase a small bistro patio set, and place a couple of colorful cushions on the chairs and co-ordinating flower pot on the table. Create anticipation in the buyers – make them want to see inside.
Make sure that when people enter your home, it smells nice! Eliminate any odors from pets or cooking and steam clean the carpets and drapes.
Spend some extra time staging the kitchen and master bathroom, by making the rooms feel as light and spacious as possible. Put your personal bathroom items in a small basket which you can place under the sink when not in use. Use greenery and inexpensive soaps and hand-towels to create a spa-like feeling.
Have a definite purpose to each room. Store extra furniture out of sight, so that buyers can see the true potential of each room.
All the best